Jewish Groups To Netanyahu: Don’t Deport African Asylum Seekers
In a rare rebuke of Israeli government policy, two major Jewish American organizations are publicly expressing their concern over a plan to deport thousands of African asylum seekers.
״As American Jews, one of our greatest concerns is the well-being and security of Israel; we want to see it prosper and overcome all of the challenges its precarious location imposes on it,” the groups state in a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu. “We also care about our shared Jewish values and refugee heritage — a very human concern that reaches across borders and distances—and unifies us as a people.”
The Israeli government recently approved a plan to force African migrants, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, to leave and resettle in third countries in Africa, or stay and face incarceration in an open detention center in the Negev desert. Human rights groups warned that asylum seekers who had agreed to leave in the past faced violence and dangers.
“We therefore strongly urge the Israeli government to refrain from implementing this plan,” ADL and HIAS conclude their letter to Netanyahu. “Addressing this issue in a humane and responsible manner remains no easy task, but it is the Jewish and ethical thing to do.”
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO